San Diego trip WWYD

[mmackeymouse]

The two places in California are not that close together, especially with traffic. If you wanted to do Disneyland with holiday decorations, I would do the Disney trip as a separate trip another time if you can afford it/save up for it.

No, I get that. But...in the grand scheme of things...when traveling across country, 2 hours is nothing. It's the closest I have ever been.

 

[chezcurrie]

No, I get that. But...in the grand scheme of things...when traveling across country, 2 hours is nothing. It's the closest I have ever been.

This is why in my post I said different people have different travel and traffic tolerance levels. I made the drive from north county San Diego this Sunday and will be doing it again this weekend *and* next. My family who live 15 min from the parks think I’m nuts. Lol

That said I would get a hotel for the night. There are affordable hotels especially if only using it to crash and dash. It will make your day far more enjoyable and you can Uber to the airport the next day.

 

[crystal1313]

I’m not sure if going from San Diego to Anaheim on the train would have the same issues we ran into…but we took the train from Burbank to Anaheim and the train was significantly delayed due to freight trains. At least, that is what Amtrack told us. It ended up taking us 4 hours from Burbank to our hotel in Anaheim due to train delays and then not being able to get an Uber from the Anaheim train station. We had two Ubers cancel on us because we had luggage and they refused to take it. So we ended up scheduling an on demand ART bus, which took awhile to get to us.

Have a fun trip!

 

[starlite_]

I’m not sure if going from San Diego to Anaheim on the train would have the same issues we ran into…but we took the train from Burbank to Anaheim and the train was significantly delayed due to freight trains. At least, that is what Amtrack told us. It ended up taking us 4 hours from Burbank to our hotel in Anaheim due to train delays and then not being able to get an Uber from the Anaheim train station. We had two Ubers cancel on us because we had luggage and they refused to take it. So we ended up scheduling an on demand ART bus, which took awhile to get to us.

Have a fun trip!

The one time my friends took the Amtrack it was delayed too. Which sucked cause we wanted to have an early night and had to go pick them up.

 

[foolish_mortals]

The train is such a wildcard. When it’s running on time, it’s great…but there are regularly delays.

Also there is a non insignificant chance those tracks partially closed due to erosion. The last 4 years saw portions of that route closed at some point during the year, happened in 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023. So have a backup plan.

 

[Aspencreek]

Just did this trip yesterday from San Diego to DL and back. Decided to drive our rental car and not risk the train. We aren’t early birds particularly so we left our Airbnb in SD at about 9:45 and were parked at Toy Story by 11:15. They were still doing security there so we breezed through that and then the shuttle had us in the park taking photos by 11:30.

Even with getting there that late, with the use of genie+ we got right on Star Tours, then right on Small World, then on Big Thunder, etc. Actually did a lot more rides than I expected with HM, Runaway Railway, potc 3 times, and a bunch of others. We headed out of the park about 10:30 (due to tired legs more than anything) and were back at the house about 12:15. So not bad at all and a day trip is definitely doable!

 

[foolish_mortals]

OP I’m not sure if you decided to take the train but just a heads up, that Amtrak line closed January 26 due to a landslide with no reopening timeline. They are operating 3 buses a day between Oceanside and Irvine.

If you booked tickets already it’s sounds like Amtrak is doing something to accommodate (probably busses or refunds). Just wanted to give you a heads up, if you haven’t heard.

 

[sheilafri]

Personally, I would stress about catching a train back so probably wouldn’t enjoy my day as much making it a day trip. So I would vote for staying the night after the parks and flying out of an LA area airport.

 

[mmackeymouse]

OP I’m not sure if you decided to take the train but just a heads up, that Amtrak line closed January 26 due to a landslide with no reopening timeline. They are operating 3 buses a day between Oceanside and Irvine.

If you booked tickets already it’s sounds like Amtrak is doing something to accommodate (probably busses or refunds). Just wanted to give you a heads up, if you haven’t heard.

Hey there! Sitting in my room in San Diego right now.

I was aware of the landslide, as I booked an Amtrak a few weeks ago. But, I did see the news of the track closure last week and waited to see how things went. I received a cancellation notice on Wednesday.

I could take one of the other trains, but that would require shuffling a lot of things around. So, as of now, I have opted to rent a car and drive.

 

[foolish_mortals]

Hey there! Sitting in my room in San Diego right now.

I was aware of the landslide, as I booked an Amtrak a few weeks ago. But, I did see the news of the track closure last week and waited to see how things went. I received a cancellation notice on Wednesday.

I could take one of the other trains, but that would require shuffling a lot of things around. So, as of now, I have opted to rent a car and drive.

Glad you were able to get a back up in place! I was worried that you hadn’t booked tickets and missed the notification since sometimes people wait until the day of.

Have fun at Disneyland!

 

[mmackeymouse]

Glad you were able to get a back up in place! I was worried that you hadn’t booked tickets and missed the notification since sometimes people wait until the day of.

Have fun at Disneyland!

Haha, no, I am no waiter.

I also happen to be an uber-planner, which is how I came across the news of the landslide and track closure in the first place. Had I not been doing my pre-trip research, I would have gotten the cancellation notice out of the blue and I really would have been scrambling.

I am still scrambling a bit; like I said, I rented a car, which isn't necessarily my preference. I've considered an Uber which....is super pricy, but....it's also door-to-door service and less of a hassle.

I would have considered cancelling one night and going up the night before, but my current reservation was not able to do that....i would have had to cancel the whole thing, rebook (more expensive). So, I'd essentially be paying twice- once for a night at a hotel I am not at, and once for a new room.

So, at this point, I'm just sort of...making the best of it.